CEV Champions League 2019

I think people are reading a bit much into Brakocevic’s decline. She was a great player who had a baby and came back as only a good player. This stuff happens. It also has to do with the type of player she was. For example, Neslihan was a very intelligent and skilled hitter and so was able to score a lot of points after childbirth, but Jovana relied a lot more on height and power so if the changes in her body really impacted her power or the height of her jumps then it’s only natural that this hugely hurt her game.

I think people are reading a bit much into Brakocevic’s decline. She was a great player who had a baby and came back as only a good player. This stuff happens. It also has to do with the type of player she was. For example, Neslihan was a very intelligent and skilled hitter and so was able to score a lot of points after childbirth, but Jovana relied a lot more on height and power so if the changes in her body really impacted her power or the height of her jumps then it’s only natural that this hugely hurt her game.

Sure, but she started to get worse even before she got pregnant (summer 2015) though.

Glinka on the other hand was also a powerhitter, however she came back as a force again after her pregnancy in 2010, being an important player for Vakifbank for several years afterwards. Still at 34 in 2012 I remember she smashed balls with thunderous power, and she was the best scorer in the turkish league 2011 and 2012 as well as awarded MVP in Champions League back in 2011.

Sure, but she started to get worse even before she got pregnant (summer 2015) though.

Glinka on the other hand was also a powerhitter, however she came back as a force again after her pregnancy in 2010, being an important player for Vakifbank for several years afterwards. Still at 34 in 2012 I remember she smashed balls with thunderous power, and she was the best scorer in the turkish league 2011 and 2012 as well as awarded MVP in Champions League in 2011.

It’s true that her 13-14 season wasn’t quite at the level she had shown before and I’m not sure how she performed the following season in Azerbaijan. She was also struggling with an injury at some point in this period (can’t remember the details) but it led to Boskovic becoming a starter in WCH 2014, so maybe that played a role as well.

About Glinka, yeah that’s all true. I’m not saying this decline happens to all power players who get pregnant, just that it makes sense that they’re more vulnerable to major changes in their bodies.

I believe in some cases, such as Brakocevic, the reason behind the decline could be a sense of being superfluous, no longer needed, in the most relevant context for the player herself, which I guess for Jovana always has been the NT. Serbians are well-known for their patriotism. The club-phase I guess for her always been more of a preperation period for the most important goal when the summer-time arrives. I doubt we will see a sudden decline of players such as Boskovic or Egonu if they dont suddenly become put off the crown by some new emerging superstar who snatches their previous position as the top dog. Some players might recover from such dethroning, others might not, its obviously depending on several personal factors.

Oh, no doubt she was affected by her losing the starting spot in NT. There was one particularly unguarded short interview done immediately after the disappointment at 2014 World Championship where you could see a small glimpse how bothered she was by it. I mean, this 17-year old child was taking her place (you must remember that at this time, she was the biggest star of Serbian NT). Sure, she had a major shoulder injury she recently recovered from, and Terzic used that as a public excuse to use her as sub (while she herself said she was completely fine, and ready to play).

But also, I wonder that in such cases (particularly in the cases of Brakocevic and Hooker, but also several others), the fact they were no longer stars of their NT had an effect on us, the fans and spectators, just as much as on players themselves. I have often stated that, in female volleyball, you can't be a true superstar with just your club achievements. There are only very few players who don't have successes and great games with their NT whom we are willing to call world-class, and that only tends to last a limited number of years, before they fade from public perception of "world-class star".

Sure, she had a major shoulder injury she recently recovered from, and Terzic used that as a public excuse to use her as sub (while she herself said she was completely fine, and ready to play).

I think that was Malagurski, who Terzić didn't take to WCh saying she was injured, but she insisted she was fine. Of course, it would turn out to be the first of many times she got cut at the last moment.

Anyway, Brakočević was AWFUL at WCh '14 (I think we lost a set to Cameroon or something with her on court), so her butthurt comments after the competition were hilarious as she clearly lacked any sort of insight or perspective. I admit I never quite thought of her the same after that.

But yes, it shouldn't be forgotten that she had problems with injuries even before she got pregnant. And I don't think rushing her comeback so much in order to be ready for the Olympics helped either.

As for Mari, I've always thought that getting that Olympic gold and overcoming the demons of Athens took everything out of her mentally. Some athletes are like that, once they achieve a goal they've set for themselves, it's hard to keep going. See Justine Henin in tennis.

The Cubans and the Chinese clearly have an issue with their system. Cuba is well known story with their restrictions on playing abroad, so their players lose years of playing time and further development. The Chinese always seem to be putting their focus on young players and there seems to be little incentive to keep playing after a certain age.

Didn`t Brakocevic said something like the problem in 2014 was that Terzic never talked with her and mentioned anything that Boskovic would be the starter in the WCH? He basically kept her in the dark. I had no idea who Boskovic was so I was just thinking Brakocevic was injured and unable to play that`s why Boskovic was starting.

Like Mazzanti said in a interview. He had to talk with Ortolani before and explain what her role would be in the WCH as she would be getting basically 0 time on the court. Terzic should have done the same thing with Brakocevic in 2014. I would he confused and hurt as well if I was in her shoes. And then you add the lie he made up about Malagurski been injured.

Tijana didn't know she was going to be the starter either, she said that in a recent interview remembering her beginning on the NT. Apparently Terzić announced it before the first game of the tournament (against Turkey, IIRC) and she was shocked and very nervous, and Stefana Veljković, her roommate at the time, spent a lot of time talking to her and helped her to settle down.

So it was clearly a last minute decision and I don't think Brakočević was meant to be subbed, but I suspect that Bošković was doing much better than her in trainings leading up to the tournament and Terzić just decided to take a gamble.

The Malagurski situation has never been clear, though. But she kept coming back all those years after that, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Oh, no doubt she was affected by her losing the starting spot in NT. There was one particularly unguarded short interview done immediately after the disappointment at 2014 World Championship where you could see a small glimpse how bothered she was by it. I mean, this 17-year old child was taking her place (you must remember that at this time, she was the biggest star of Serbian NT). Sure, she had a major shoulder injury she recently recovered from, and Terzic used that as a public excuse to use her as sub (while she herself said she was completely fine, and ready to play).

But also, I wonder that in such cases (particularly in the cases of Brakocevic and Hooker, but also several others), the fact they were no longer stars of their NT had an effect on us, the fans and spectators, just as much as on players themselves. I have often stated that, in female volleyball, you can't be a true superstar with just your club achievements. There are only very few players who don't have successes and great games with their NT whom we are willing to call world-class, and that only tends to last a limited number of years, before they fade from public perception of "world-class star".

i dont think nt success is the most important one. For instance, ravva is one of the most dominant and respected mb in the volleyball history without any NT success. Same goes poljak although she has been in Olympics when she was young in later stages of her career there is no success with nt but she is still considered as one of the best MB in the world. Barun is known very well too although she barely ever played for NT. We can count several Ukrainian players as well since they did never play with NT. And of course most recent example is haak who is compared to egonu although she has no success with nt

Tijana didn't know she was going to be the starter either, she said that in a recent interview remembering her beginning on the NT. Apparently Terzić announced it before the first game of the tournament (against Turkey, IIRC) and she was shocked and very nervous, and Stefana Veljković, her roommate at the time, spent a lot of time talking to her and helped her to settle down.

So it was clearly a last minute decision and I don't think Brakočević was meant to be subbed, but I suspect that Bošković was doing much better than her in trainings leading up to the tournament and Terzić just decided to take a gamble.

The Malagurski situation has never been clear, though. But she kept coming back all those years after that, so it couldn't have been that bad.

If I remember right, in 2014 Malagurski was the starting opposite on WGP. Tijana and Jovana joined the team quite late and Sanja was cut just before the WCH. Bosković played like 3 or 4 friendly games with the team and the decision she would go to WCH was a little bit shocking.

i dont think nt success is the most important one. For instance, ravva is one of the most dominant and respected mb in the volleyball history without any NT success. Same goes poljak although she has been in Olympics when she was young in later stages of her career there is no success with nt but she is still considered as one of the best MB in the world. Barun is known very well too although she barely ever played for NT. We can count several Ukrainian players as well since they did never play with NT. And of course most recent example is haak who is compared to egonu although she has no success with nt

I did say that there are some whom we are willing to call world-class and stars, but they are decidedly in the minority.

Tomorrow in the evening (both matches on laola1.tv) the decision is due in the return matches in Stuttgart and Mulhouse for the last two berths in CL pools. Both home teams lost 3:1 abroad, so the guests have to win just two sets there to proceed, the hosts on the other hand have to win 3:0 or 3:1 and than the golden set will decide, which team in each case proceeds in CL pool stage and which (the loser) goes down to CEV Cup in a fairly good (but not ideal) position.

19:00 CET Stuttgart vs. Alba BLAJ

20:00 CET Mulhouse vs. Budowlani LODZ

(both times are also local time at the host city)

While at bookmakers guests Lodz are again slightly favoured abroad, hosts Stuttgart have a surprisingly good quote of 1.4 to 3.0 against Blaj, in light of the too easy loss abroad and for sure not too convincing league match at home against Wiesbaden on Saturday. Generally speaking I think Stuttgart team and German vice champion is indeed stronger than Romanian vice champion Blaj, especially when playing at home, but chances are clearly reduced by the prerequisites (abroad loss too high to count).

With the win of the fourth set, i.e. two sets in total, Budowlani Lodz also proceeded to the pool stage - Mulhouse had to win the fourth set to take it to the decisive Golden Set. Therefore the pools are now known completely, and I try to make a guess about the order of the teams after pool stage closing; who proceeds from the second ranked teams is hard to tell, because it depends on details of the pool standings at the end: